it doesn't matter how the rider was riding previously, there is no acceptable reason for a stop to be conducted in this fashion unless the rider himself was armed and brandishing

being stupid doesn't mean you get a gun drawn on you without a cop announcing himself or showing a badge. Unless they directly fear for their own safety they are not to pull their weapon in traffic, period.

it doesn't matter how the rider was riding previously, there is no acceptable reason for a stop to be conducted in this fashion unless the rider himself was armed and brandishing

being stupid doesn't mean you get a gun drawn on you without a cop announcing himself or showing a badge. Unless they directly fear for their own safety they are not to pull their weapon in traffic, period.

These were my thoughts as well.

Also, for the "100mph and weaving in and out of traffic"..I dunno. It takes a lot of track to get to 100mph and everyone on this forum should know that motorbikes "appear" to the eye to be going faster than they really are.

BTW, my wife showed me this vid last night and she was more pissed that I really was at the time. I think more from fear that the dude on the bike could have been me.

Walking up behind motorcyclists in traffic with drawn weapons without identifying yourself is a good way to elicit a fight or flight response. Another example of police action with impunity because they know they can get away with it.

It's funny to note that his bizarre threats to knock the bike over in the street don't merit a mention; that's how off the reservation this cop was was. I don't blame our guy for believing he might get shot right then and there. I wouldn't have even challenged him on the stop because I would have been thinking: "I make this loon feel uncomfortable and he might decide it'll be better if I'm not around to contest his side of the story."

Here's somebody's capture of a KIRO 7 report, who take credit for bringing the video to the Sheriff.

Edit: on watching the last part, the Sheriff looks really angry that this shit happened to his department. Watch his jaw and lip when he stops talking for a second when describing how he's going to use the video as a teaching tool. The guy is majorly pissed.

Not much more than road rage combined with a feeling of superiority. Good thing the cop lost his job and he didn't kill anybody. I guess it would be interesting to see what lead up to the cops reaction. The few seconds on the video seem like pretty normal R1 riding to me...

It's interesting that the video fades in, rather than cuts in sharply the way it would if he had just powered on the camera, meaning he's edited that end of it. He's decelerating and the speedo is just dropping through 44mph as the video comes up.

This is just an aside observation, so don't anybody yell at me: I'm not defending crazy-ass off-duty Deputy Douchebag for a single second and I'm not going to kid anyone about how closely I observe speed limits myself, mmkay? But I'd lay good odds our guy was doing over 45 and cut the video to make sure that didn't show.

I might add, if he is a detective, his car IS NOT equipped with calibrated speed measurement equipment, and he would have had to pace motorcycle guy to get a not-at-all accurate speed measurement, which would have dubious validity in court. This won't go well for the cop.